A RUNAWAY. 133 



an improper (and for him) inefficacious bit in bis 

 mouth. With a man Avith bad hands no horse is 

 safe, unless it be a beast that wants a flail in lieu 

 of a whip to get him along, instead of reins to hold 

 him in. If the fault was in the bit, that is easily 

 changed ; if in the hands, the sooner they or the 

 horse are changed the better. But if a man knows 

 Avhat he is about, he need not hesitate to buy 

 this horse, for most high-mettled horses would run 

 away, at times, if they could ; the only thing is, 

 if good-tempered they submit to the hint or con- 

 trol of the bit to check their inclination ; if their 

 temper is not quite so amenable, the severity of 

 it will produce the same effect. 



The horses that I consider perfectly safe and 

 good-tempered, I only mean are so in tolerably 

 efficient hands, for high-mettled ones, though quite 

 as good-tempered, and no more, or so much, prone 

 to vice as sluggish ones, may perhaps, nay cer- 

 tainly would be, from high courage and spirits, 

 induced to take liberties if left to their own in- 

 clinations; and it is this very inclination that 

 makes them carry themselves handsomely, step 

 with freedom of action, and in fact is one of their 

 best attributes. 



If, however, a man was, from nervous tempera- 

 ment, illness, or infirmity, quite unable to exert 

 himself, or if his total inexperience in horses in- 

 capacitated him from using the ordinary measures 



K 3 



